Lightning streaked across the sky, crackling between the clouds, and the flash bounced against all of the settled snow, with enough force that it would blind anyone who witnessed it directly. A sharp, loud crack of thunder, boomed across the entirety of the Knee shortly after. An almost physical force followed it, like the sound itself was hitting those who heard it.

It was far more like an explosion to Luz - And in her surprise, she jumped at the noise and the flash.

"Whoa!" She yelped. She craned her head and looked around, searching for a source, before a second, smaller crackle made her realize that, at the very least, it wasn't an explosion. "That - What the heck's going on?! What's that noise?!" "

"Thundersnow." Bo said plainly, as if it was the most obvious thing in the universe.

"Thundersnow?" Luz's head jolted back towards Bo, eyebrow raised. "What, like a thunderstorm while it's snowing?"

"Yeah. Do… You not have thundersnow in the Human Realm?"

"Uh…" The Human blinked. "I… I feel like I've heard of it but… Not sure, honestly. Maybe? If we do, I never saw it."

"Huh." Bo blinked, then shrugged. "Well, they're common up here in the Knee. Get them in town sometimes in the winter too." As she spoke, Bo stepped underneath the branch of a pine tree, and looked back down at the map back to their ride. They were still on the right path. It wouldn't take them long now. "Thankfully, it sounded kinda far off. We should be okay, for now at least."

"Oh, good!" Luz exhaled a breath that she hadn't realized she'd been holding. "Thank God for that, I, uh… I had enough trouble today in that... Dream Realm… Thing, whatever it was ." She shivered at the memory. "I already dealt with… That which will not be named . The last thing I wanna deal with after that is getting hit by a lightning bolt in a blizzard."

Bo nodded. "A-greed."

There was a brief moment of silence, before Luz spoke up. "Er, is any of this looking familiar to you? It all just looks like trees and ice and snow to me. You sure the map is taking us to the right place?"

"'Weather Warning - All students, return to the landing as it is located on your magical maps.'" Bo repeated the message that was emblazoned in red across the top of her map. "We're getting close, trust me. I think I recognise some of the trees here."

"I really hope you're right." The Human muttered, shivering again, this time at the cold. Snow began to fall as she shook, as if to punctuate the matter. "I really don't wanna be out here when that bad weather hits us."

Both of them carried on down the pathway, trying to pick up the pace to outrun the storm behind them. They ducked under branches and climbed over the rocks that were in their way. Their increased pace meant that just a few minuites later, they had gotten where they wanted to go.

"Aha! We're here!"

There it was - The clearing, and the longboat. A barrier of some kind was surrounding the entire clearing, though it was clearly more for keeping out weather since several students were walking inside. . From inside, the teachers were directing students onto the boat, while around it, other pairs of students filed in..

Laughter escaped Luz. "Haha! We made it!"

"See?" Bo smiled. "I told you I knew we were headed in the right direction!" Her smile was wiped off her face when a sharp gust of icy wind hit both of them from behind. Frigid chills ran throughout both of their entire bodies. Both of them clutched their waists to try to regain some lost heat. "Brrr! And we got here just in time, too. I think the storm is headed this way."

"No kidding." Luz ran her hands up and down her arms to try to warm them up. "Can't wait to go back and get me some hot chocolate. Or… Uh... Whatever warm stuff you guys drink in the winter here. Hot… Screaming death, maybe?"

"No, we just have hot chocolate here."

"...Huh."

"Yo! Luz!"

Immediately, a grin appeared on her face, and she turned to face the direction of the voice.

"Gus!" She shouted, running up to her youngest friend and giving him a great big bear hug, which he responded to in kind. "Oh man, you won't believe what me and Bo did!"

"If it's anything like what we just went through, I'm sure we'll believe it." Another sardonic, yet sweet voice stated.

"Amity!" Luz immediately let go of Gus and wrapped her arms affectionately around Amity's waist.

She knew she should have asked first, particularly when it came to Amity, since she was a lot more reserved about this sort of thing compared to Gus or Willow - And that was only reinforced by the fact that Amity didn't hug her back like Gus had, and was more just sort of frozen in place...

But gosh dangit, she was so huggable! And warm. And soft. And-

Without warning, another crackle and boom of thunder erupted from the clouds - The vibrations were so strong that the snow caught on the nearby trees was shaken off. Luz less let go of Amity than she had her hands physically ripped off of the Witch by the air itself.

Snow began to fall from the sky a lot heavier now, and the wind began to pick up speed. It began to rock the longboat, and nearly knocked one student over the edge of the clearing, were it not for Mr. Basilisk's levitation spell catching said student at the last minute, and bringing them back to the clearing.

"Alright, kids! Last call! The blizzard is coming this way, and we can't stay any longer!"

Those students that weren't yet on the longboat made their way towards it quickly, and found their seats as quickly as they could. What little equipment had been left in the clearing, teachers ran out to grab, making sure that there weren't any students that were approaching at the last minute.

"You heard him." Bo urged. "We should get on board."

"Right!" Luz took Amity's hand instead, almost entirely just to spite the wind, and led her to the boat. "Come on, you guys! I wanna hear what you all had to deal with in the Dream… Thing." Her eyes were on Amity. "From you-"

"Everyone in?"

"And Gus-"

"Alright, no one seems to be saying no."

"And Wi-"

Luz stopped.

She looked around the boat.

She saw a pair of freezing, fuming bullies in Boscha and Matt - who looked like they'd spent the entire trip trying to kill each other.

She saw Amity and Gus - Gus shivering, while Amity's face seemed to be radiating enough heat for the whole boat..

She saw Bo, looking back at Luz with wide eyes as they both had the same realization.

That two people were missing.

"WAIT !" Luz stood up and yelled, trying to stop the boat.

But as a crack of thunder ripped through the sky, and snow began to start pelting the boat, it took off into the sky.

Carrying off all Hexside's students it came with.

All, of course, except for Willow and Skara.


Skara didn't have even the slightest idea how long she and Willow had been wandering around, trying to get back to the longboat. She didn't have the slightest idea where the longboat was. All she did have the slightest bit of was the need to find somewhere for her and Willow to stay safe.

Skara was dragging Willow along by the plant witch's waist, helped only by the tired, limp Willow's arm draped over the Bard's shoulder. With Willow still struck by the Spider-Yeti's venom, which made it difficult for her to walk, Skara had to help her to move, step by slow, sluggish, ankle-deep step.

How long have we been stuck in this blizzard?

An hour, at least? Probably?

It was scary how one's sense of time could be lost along with their sense of direction.

Checking around her surroundings once again, Skara saw the exact same thing that she had seen the last Titan-knew how many times that she looked around - That was to say, nothing at all.

Nothing but a cold, formless white.

In a blizzard on the Knee, an entire foot's worth of snow could fall in minutes, potentially covering the landscape entirely that nothing stood out. Snow fell so rapidly that it became difficult to see even a few meters ahead, and each flake that fell was nearly the size of Skara's thumb. All sense of direction was completely lost to those stuck within a blizzard like this. Even just the act of moving became a monumental task as more and more snow settled.

Not to mention, the cold was unspeakable.

"Are… Are you alright?!" Skara asked, yelling so that her voice could be heard over the sounds of the wind around them. "Is the venom wearing off yet?!"

"I… I don't think so." Willow had to use all of what little strength she had to just respond. She wasn't particularly loud, either - They didn't have the energy to yell.

The venom was sticking with her a lot longer than it had for Skara. And that made her nervous.

All Skara could do was groan, and keep on pushing in a straight line, hoping to the Titan that they were getting somewhere.

Every part of her felt frozen. Snow had gotten inside her clothes and had melted, she still hadn't really rested from the hours of Grudgby practice that morning, she was still shaken up by nearly being eaten by Spider-Yeti's, on top of the fact that she was essentially carrying an entire other Witch - Frankly, she was amazed she hadn't completely collapsed already.

She just kept pushing on though. It wasn't like she had much other choice.

At one point, Willow spoke up. "I… I… I think the venom has… Worn off a little…"

"Okay! Good!"

"I'm… Gonna try and put some weight on it."

"What? Willow, wait -"

No less than a second after attempting to do so though, Willow immediately groaned, and collapsed face first deep into the cold snow, dragging Skara down with her.

Floundering for a few seconds, Skara managed to dig and push herself out of the snow, - Now soaked to the bone - quickly dusted herself down, and spat out the mouthful of ice she'd inhaled from the fall.

She then immediately turned to Willow, and found her still laying face down, not even having the strength to pick herself up.

"Willow!" Moving quickly, Skara pushed her onto her back.

Willow spent a couple of seconds just looking up into the sky in a sort of daze, before it seemed that she regained her senses, and looked towards Skara. She gave the Bard an almost… Amused look.

"I er… Guess that was a bad idea."

A single laugh escaped Skara, though she couldn't tell if it was because it actually amused her, or if the absurdity of the mess they were in just made her chuckle.

"Y'think?!"

"Sorry. I thought I could - "

"Don't worry about it. Just tell me next time, 'kay?"

The Plant Witch nodded.

Just as she did though, a crack of thunder echoed throughout the entire landscape, and sparks of electricity began jolting throughout the clouds. A white streak of lightning struck a few miles away from the girls, the only thing that either of them had been able to see since the blizzard began.

"Thundersnow." Skara said aloud. She glanced to her right, trying to see if she could spot anything new in the blizzard - Anything at all. Nothing. She turned her head. "We just need -"

When she looked to her left, she finally saw… Something .

"What the…"

It was large - That was really all that Skara could be certain of. The fog and snow made it difficult for her to even see her hand in front of her, let alone whatever this was. No details stood out. It just appeared as a shadow to her. Two shadows, really, both roughly of equal height, with a fairly large gap between them. Both remained completely stationary. Had Skara not stopped to look in either direction, she probably wouldn't have noticed it for all the fog, the falling snow, and her single-minded drive to get her and Willow out of the blizzard.

Whatever the heck it was though, it was something , and something was better than nothing right about now.

"Huh?" Willow asked, trying her best to prop herself up so she could see what Skara was looking at. "What is it?"

"Come on." Skara responded, wrapping one of Willow's arms around her neck again, and pulling her upright. "I think I've found something!"


It seemed to be some sort of chasm - A gap within a sheer cliff that followed either side.

Roughly, it was about the width of a Grudgby field, and created a pathway that let Skara and Willow to follow the fissure without any issues whatsoever. At the edges of this pathway, the cliff began again, at an almost ninety-degree angle before reaching the top again, which was, Skara's incredibly mathematical brain summarized, the definition of... A really long way up.

Snow still drifted in from the topside, but it wasn't anything even remotely close to how bad it was out in the open, as the edges of cliff's at either side of the gap caught the majority of the snow before it fell down the chasm. The pathway was still scattered with snow, though the actual surfaces beneath it could still be seen in patches. It was mostly just barren rocks of gray and brown, but it was more than anything the two Witches had seen in the last who-knew how long. Neither girl, in all their lives, had they been more elated to see rocks .

The first thought Skara had was that they were… Extraordinarily lucky that they hadn't gone along the topside path before finding this chasm. If they had, she seriously doubted that they would have survived the fall.

And the second was that, while it wasn't exactly much, it was, at the very least, some sort of protection from the harsh elements battering them.

Both Willow and Skara both looked at one another for a brief moment. Then, through a combination of sheer force of will and adrenaline, Skara all but carried Willow into the chasm. There really wasn't any conversation to be had - They needed shelter, and this was the best that they were going to get.

"We should… Go a bit deeper." Willow said, after they had entered the chasm. Weakly, she tried to point further in. "The snow, it… It seems to thin out the further in you go."

She was right, Skara noticed - The piles of snow seemed to slope the further inwards it went, and there were more rocks that were still exposed to the air. The deeper the chasm went, the less likely they were to be touched by the blizzard.

Following the instruction, Skara took them deeper still. There was a gradual corner in the chasm that she followed.

She walked for what felt to be a mile, her legs sore, her breath heavy, continuing to hold Willow up, despite the fact that the average Witch should have felt better hours ago by this point. She was about ready to simply fall to the ground, giving up on everything...

Until she saw a cabin. A lone cabin, made of wood. Just in the middle of the path.

Skara stopped dead in her tracks, and just stared at it for a short while. She blinked once, twice, three times in surprise, and then made a deliberate effort not to blink in the slightest, fearing that if she did, it would somehow evaporate into the air like a snowy mirage, or an illusion. But it remained all the same.

A cabin - Here? In a chasm? On the Knee of all places?

It almost felt like it was some sort of trap - It was too good to be true. Like she should expect some sort of… Bandit or criminal or…. Titan-knew what to jump out and attack her the minute that she and Willow were within three feet of it. She looked at the cabin, and then back at Willow. The Plant Witch's head was hung, and her arms seemed to be limp.

Whatever worries Skara had about finding a cabin like this in a chasm here, she could deal with them later.

Upon approaching, Skara was able to get a better sense of scale for the cabin - It was a fairly small building overall, but with two floors. The entire thing seemed to be made out of a special kind of wood, used for construction purposes, although she didn't recognize the architectural style from anything she'd seen anywhere on the Isles. It didn't remind her of anything that the Construction Coven would make. It looked… Old. Ancient, even.

Rushing as fast as she could while still carrying Willow, Skara hoped the door could was not...

"...Locked." She huffed, and her head hung.

Then she slammed on it, hard as she could, hard enough to hear the sound of it reverberate from the inside out.

"Hey! Anyone in there?! Hello?!"

Again, nothing. Was it abandoned?

A small groan escaped Skara. She knelt down, and rested Willow against the wall next to the door. Willow looked up at her, still weak. "Skara?"

"I'm gonna try and find another way in, okay?" Skara told her, getting up onto her feet. "Just wait here, alright? Don't go anywhere."

"…I wasn't exactly planning on it." Willow muttered, sarcastically. "I can barely even move."

Skara barely heard her though - She had already run to the other end of the building, around the corner. Maybe there was a side door, or a window, or something that she could use to get in, or just... Something .

One quick check around the building later revealed that the only door was the one she had tried to open. However, there were a series of windows - Seven in total, four on the ground floor. Peeking into the ground floor windows showed little more than dust and disrepair. At least from the outside looking in, there didn't seem to be a single person living there, and there probably hadn't been for a long while.

And if there was... Well, she'd worry about that later. Dealing with that would be better than freezing out in the open.

Facing a window, she made a spell circle. The air around the window began to vibrate, and after a few seconds, the glass cracked, before finally shattering.

Covering her arm with her coat so she didn't cut herself, Skara wiped away the shards of glass that remained on the windowsill, before climbing into the cabin. She took a brief look around the room she had ended up in - A kitchen of some sort, but not one that looked similar to how Skara had ever seen one laid out. There were cooking utensils like knives and forks, a countertop and the likes, but there were other things that were a bit more unusual. There was a cauldron in the absolute center of the room, with symbols probably older than Skara's grandfather carved into it . It was a small detail, but one certainly stood out to the Bard.

The room somehow felt… Empty, but it also wasn't. Like everything had been kept neat and tidy, like someone had been planning to come back one day but never had, and what mess there was had come from the passage of time more than anything else. Dust, some things scattered along the floor, that sort of thing.

"Hello?!" Skara called out into the building. Her shout reverberated against the walls of the room.

She got no response. So she confirmed at least that no one was inside when she broke into a building . That was a plus, at least.

She quickly moved through the rest of the cabin without taking any notice as to the interior of the rooms she ran through, eventually finding the front door. Thankfully, it was a lock that didn't require a key to be opened from the inside. She twisted the knob and smiled as she turned to the latest victim of a Spider-Yeti's venom.

"And we're in!" She declared as she knelt down to pull Willow onto her feet, the bards arm around Willow's neck once again.

As soon as they were both inside, Skara scanned the front room for the nearest place that she could put Willow down to rest. There was a couch that was set up just in front of one of the windows. That would work.

The Bard kicked the door behind her shut, and helped Willow over towards the couch. She lowered the Plant Witch onto it as gently as she could, resting her head upon the armrest, with a couch-cushion quickly slid underneath it for use as a pillow.

"There we go." Skara murmured. Taking her expedition partner's arm from around her neck and resting it by her side, Skara stood upright, and stretched her neck until she felt it click in her hands. All but carrying Willow all this way had been… Well, exhausting was putting it lightly. "You feeling alright?"

Willow's eyes flickered for a moment, before they landed on Skara. The expression that she made was difficult to read, but there was... At least something of a small smile there. "...I'm… Okay."

"Can you use Magic?"

"I don't feel any Magic in me so… No, I guess."

Skara blinked. Still? How in the -

She shook her head. She'd worry about that later.

"You… You should rest." She told Willow, taking a glance around the room. "I'm gonna… Try and figure out where in Titans name we are."

Her sentence hadn't even finished before Willow's eyes had shut, and she was fast asleep.


As far as Skara could tell, the whole cabin was made out of wood - Some sort of Magic-infused wood if she had to guess, because there wasn't even the slightest sign of wood rot anywhere.

There were only five actually usable rooms in the entire house - Two on the ground floor, and three on the top floor. There were four other, smaller rooms, but they seemed to be used for little more than storage purposes, and were almost entirely filled with either empty boxes, or boxes that were filled with extremely useless things right now. Mostly old clothes and the likes, that looked like they had gone out of fashion a hundred years ago. All of them were covered in dust, apparently undisturbed for who knew how long.

The kitchen and the lounge were the ones that were on the ground floor, and were separated only by a wall with a door frame, but no actual door. In its place, a bead curtain was hung, with patterns inscribed onto it that seemed to zigzag, black, then white, black, then white, and so on and so forth. The curtains that covered the windows were more like the ones Skara was used to. And while on the subject of windows, Skara had used what little Magical energy she had left in her to repair the window that she had broken in order to get inside. It still had a number of cracks within the glass, but it held, and none of the cold was able to seep in.

Checking some of the cupboards, Skara found basically nothing. Just pots and pans that were about as old as the rest of the place. She checked the storage unit next to the kitchen counter, and to her surprise, a purple hue began to envelop it, before fading away.

And inside it, to her surprise, was an array of food - Mostly fruits and vegetables, but all seeming to be as fresh as anything in her own home.

A stasis spell, Skara realized. Whoever had been here had been planning on coming back, but never did, so the spell lasted for… However long it had been before she and Willow had arrived.

Well, at least we won't go hungry.

The lounge was… Fairly cozy, actually. There was a fireplace, a large chair and sofa, arranged so that both seating arrangements would be facing one another and the fireplace. Bookshelves lined the walls, old photos and tapestries framed on the few free spaces that existed. In a lot of the pictures, there was the same couple, two women, seeming to be of varying ages in each of the pictures, but most frequently appearing in what Skara guessed was their mid-twenties.

One was shorter, with golden braided hair that seemed to shine, eyes as red as the Isles skies, a face full of freckles, and a penchant for smiling in every photo. She also seemed to be playing a musical instrument in every photo she was in, and a wide variety of them too - a guitar, a drum set, a theremin, and half a dozen instruments Skara didn't even recognize. A Bard, Skara guessed,, or at least practiced the magic.

The woman always with her, meanwhile, was taller, with dark skin, short auburn hair, and eyes that reminded Skara of the Plant track colours. It was harder to pin down any sort of Coven for her, since she never seemed to show or do anything magical, but Skara took a stab in the dark and decided Healing, since she reminded her of an old Healer Skara had.

Probably the people who lived here, Skara initially thought. Then she thought about it, and shook her head. If they did, then all things considered, this place is pretty barren and cramped. Maybe it was like a vacation house or something.

...What kind of people vacation in a ravine?

Upstairs was a landing, which led to three usable rooms, and one smaller room, full of more boxes. One of the larger rooms was a restroom, which actually had running water - From where exactly, the Bard had no idea, but she certainly wasn't complaining.

One of the larger rooms was completely empty. Just barren, aside from a carpet, and some comparatively brighter coloured walls, with swirling patterns painted continuously and horizontally along them.

...A kid's room. That was the only logical answer. Or rather, a planned kids room. One that never got finished.

The final room was a master bed. Wardrobes that were full of old clothes again, and other basic utilities. Shampoo and the likes, although Skara didn't recognize any of the brands. Actually, there didn't even seem to be any brands. The only reason Skara knew it was shampoo was because of a note on the bottle that said 'Artis's shampoo concoction - Do not wet your hair before using it, Fex'.

Nowhere in the building was there any indication of its actual use. It just seemed to be a cabin where someone used to live, or at least spent time within, at some point in the past.

In the not-too-distant past.

Artis and Fex. Were those the names of the people who lived here?

After she had checked all of the rooms, Skara went back down into the lounge, and saw Willow, still fast asleep. She turned her head, and browsed the bookcase briefly, and used her hands to pat away the build-up of dust. 'The Myths of the Before', 'From on High', 'Remedies of the Isles', 'Magic in its Infinite Diversity'. A diverse combination...

...Her eyes drifted back to Willow. A sigh escaped her. Once again, Willow had surprised her. Caught her off guard.

…Why did she come after me?

This wasn't like the Vehemence Witch Trap last week. Willow was in as much danger as Skara was after it began attacking everyone and everything around it - Helping Skara then, the Bard could write off as self-interest if she wanted to.

But she couldn't do that with the Spider-Yeti's. There was no self-interest involved in that. It was practically the exact opposite. Considering how much danger Willow had put herself in, and how… Utterly poorly Skara had treated her just minutes before, it was a wonder she came to save her at all. And even if she had been concerned, she could have run off to find someone else, her friends, or a teacher, or... Anybody. Going alone had been all but suicidal. Frankly, it was a miracle either of them were even still alive.

If Skara didn't know any better, she'd be tempted to conclude that Willow was some sort of bizarre variety of masochist. But that wasn't the case for Willow.

And… Somehow that made it worse.

Because that meant that Willow wasn't some sort of odd exception.

Because that meant that , maybe, Skara was wrong about how the world worked. How people worked.

...Because she knew Boscha and the rest of her friends wouldn't have done the same thing for her.

And that made the question burn all the more.


"Wh… Whu?... What -"

Willow awoke to the feeling of wild spiders crawling all over her, their tiny legs marching on her skin, causing her to squirm in disgust. What's going on? Why are all these spider in my bed? An infestation?

"Papa!?" Willow shouted, opening her eyes.

And then she remembered.

Venom, sleep… It took her a minute to think of everything that happened in the last few hours. She blinked, rubbing as much of the drowsiness as she could from her eyes…

"Wait a minute," Willow muttered. She held her hand up, in front of her face, looking it over for a moment before it dawned on her

She could actually move her body again.

"Yes," Willow hissed, pumping her fist in the air. "I can move again! Take that, stupid spider ven-"

A dull pain shot underneath her ribcage, and she keeled over, clutching her side and letting out a low groan. "Owww..."

Not completely, then.

Once she was sitting upright, she let out a small sigh, but smiled nonetheless. It hurt, but it was good to finally be able to move again. She let herself scan the room, realizing just how completely foreign the small wooden room was, and blinked a few times.

Where am I?...

"Willow? Willow!"

The Plant Witch turned her head, facing the nearest entryway, one covered with a bead curtain Skara emerged from it, pushing the curtain aside while staring at Willow. Willow blinked, both at seeing Skara herself and of… Something else.

"Skara? Is that a "I'm a Bad Witch" apron?"

"You're…. Up." Skara said flatly, approaching cautiously while ignoring her question. "Are you able to move again?"

"I… I guess so."

"You, uh… how are you feeling?"

"I can move myself a bit at least, so… I suppose a little better." Willow answered, a bit uncertainly. She opened and closed her hands as if to make sure her prior movements hadn't been a fluke. "I… Still don't think I can do any Magic."

"I don't think you'll be able to until tomorrow." Skara said, matter-of-factly. "Spider-Yeti venom is… Weird. It'll seep into your bile-sic through your skin and suppress your Magic as well as paralyse you for a while, but it seems to last longer on Witches who have a lot of Magical ability."

A lot of Magical ability, huh? Willow allowed herself the teensiest, tiniest moment of smug satisfaction. Guess I must be super Magical, huh?

Then, she paused, realizing something.

"...Weren't you able to use Magic not long after you'd been captured?"

"Well, it was planning on…" A slight pause, during which Skara bit her lip. "...Eating me, so it didn't use too much on me. Just enough to knock me out. If it used too much I would have been… Inedible."

Skara shivered. Willow gulped.

"P - Plus, it also depends on the Witch and on the Spider-Yeti." Skara explained. "Some of them have less effective venom, while some can kill a witch in an instant, and some Witches have a better natural resistance to them… It varies a lot. I'm just… More resistant to it than you, I guess. Although that's not saying much. I don't have much Magical left in me either. And what little I recovered, I used to break into this place, and then to fix the window I broke." The Bard shrugged. "I've got a little, but not enough to do anything even remotely useful."

Willow nodded. She took another scan of the room, before her eyes were drawn, once again, to the most gaudy thing she could find. .

"Okay… So, where are we, and… What are you wearing?"

A light tinge of crimson crossed Skara's face as she put her arms over the apron " Uh… Do you not remember where we ended up?"

"Not… Really."

"Ah." Skara nodded. "I guess that makes sense. The venom really messed you up. You were pretty out of it by the time we got here." The Bard looked around the room as well, before taking in an inhale, and then letting out an exhale. "I saw a chasm in the middle of the blizzard and we went inside, and found this place. I dunno what anyone was thinking, building a cabin here but, well, here it is, and here we are."

"And no one lives here?"

"I'm pretty sure it was abandoned… A long time ago. Probably a Wild Witches hut. A lot of the stuff here is really old, and there's a bunch of carvings and patterns around the place, so..."

Again, Willow looked around. She blinked a couple of times. The room… It actually sort of looked similar to the living room in the Owl House, now that she thought about it. Certainly not exact, but it was a point of comparison. Both were disorganized, filthy, and ugly as demons.

"Right… And the apron?"

Skara took a deep sigh, knowing that she couldn't run from the embarrassment anymore. "Look this was the only apron this place has, okay?"

"And… Why do you need an apron?"

"Turns out there's some food in one of the storage units." Skara answered, pointing behind her towards the kitchen. "It had a stasis spell on it, so it's all fresh. Figured I'd try to make us something..." She trailed off, as if there was more she wasn't saying.

"...I er, can't help but feel like there's a 'but' coming."

".. But , like I said - I don't have the Magical energy to make a fire, so…" She put on a clearly forced smile. "...Cold vegetable soup sound good?"

Very clearly, it didn't to Skara. And it certainly didn't appeal to Willow.

"...Well, luckily, we don't need Magic to make a fire."

Skara raised an eyebrow. "Eh?"

"Here - Help me up? Please?" The Plant Witch held out a hand to the Bard.

The Bard looked at the hand quizzically, but took it, helping pull Willow onto her feet. It took them a couple of seconds to find her balance, still woozy from the venom.

"Willow? You need me to-"

But Willow shook her head before Skara could finish. She made her way towards the fireplace, inspecting the hole and it's surrounding wall intently. After a few seconds, she nodded, and turned back to Skara.

"Are there any knives in this place?"

"There's a bunch of them in the kitchen..." Skara raised an eyebrow suspiciously. "Wait, Why? That spider venom isn't… Messing with your head, is it?"

Willow rolled her eyes. "Skara, I promise I'm not gonna murder you." She said, flatly. "Just bring me one, please? The biggest and strongest one you can find?"

She seemed a tad hesitant - maybe asking for the biggest, strongest knife wasn't the best idea, to be fair - but she still ran off to grab what Willow asked for. A moment later, Skara rushed back out. "Got something!" She held out her arm, showcasing a butcher's knife.

Oooh, it even has dark red spots! For decoration, obviously.

"Thanks Skara." Willow took the knife from the Bard and stared at its not-red spotted sections. It was about the length of her forearm - That would be long enough, she hoped.

To start, Willow began to shave pieces off of one of the larger logs, creating thin, curly strips that began to collect at the bottom of the fireplace. Once she had a pile of the stuff so that it covered the base of the fireplace, she picked up a metallic fire-prod that was located to the side, and struck the knife against it, lengthways.

Then she did it again. And again. And again. She struck it as hard as she could, without damaging the knife and ruining their hopes entirely. Unfortunately the preservation spell didn't seem to work on the metals of the knife and Willow wondered for a moment if it would eventually fall to rusted pieces...

Until eventually, sparks flew out, and hit the thin strips of wood - And suddenly, there was a flame. A small, tiny flame, but it was a flame nonetheless. And quickly, it began to spread until it began to engulf the chips, creating a perfectly sized fire for staying warm throughout the cabin..

"…And there we go." Willow exhaled, wiping her brow as she sat up, and let herself smirk slightly. It hadn't been a ton of physical labour, but with the venom still in her system, it wore her out more than it should have. "Phew!"

"Where the heck did you learn to do that?"

Skara was impressed, if her voice was anything to go by, but also confused, if her raised eyebrow was anything to go by. It made sense to Willow though - Just about every Witch on the Isles could make a small fire spell. It was so common that most Witches never learned any other way of making them. Some didn't even know that making a fire the way Willow just had was even an option. And Skara was apparently one of them.

Before she got an answer to her question, Skara had already ducked back into the kitchen to grab whatever it was that she had been working on before Willow had woken up. Some clattering echoed throughout the cabin as she went about her business.

"It's gotta be the Human, right?" She guessed, asking just before the sounds of liquid hitting metal followed the question out of the room. "Before they found that weird fire… what was it, Gif?"

The Plant-Witch let out a small, single chuckle. "It's called a glyph, actually. And, no, not really. It… My Dad's taught me how to do it."

"Your dads?" Skara asked, re-entering the room with a cooking-could run in hands. She made her way towards the fire, and hung it above the flames by hooking it onto the walls of the fireplace.

Willow nodded. "Yeah. We go camping a lot. We have since I was little, and they wanted me to learn how to make a fire without Magic, just in case anything ever happened to me."

"…Well, I'd say this whole mess qualifies."

A single chuckle escaped Willow. "Me too."

"Well, thank the Titan for them, then." Skara clapped her hand, beginning to set up the materials necessary for cooking around the flame.

"Yeah."

A brief silence fell between the two of them as they waited for the vegetable soup to warm up. It was… It wasn't a completely awkward silence, but it wasn't exactly comfortable either. Neither of them knew how to describe it.

"…How long was I asleep?" Willow asked after a couple of minutes. "How long have we been here?"

Skara's eyes looked towards Willow, then the ceiling, and she did some brief numbers work with her fingers. "…About an hour, I think. Maybe two? I've not exactly been keeping track of time to be honest."

"Is it still snowing?"

"Mmm-hm." Skara nodded, and pointed towards the window behind her. Snow fell from the sky at a quick, but gentle pace. "It's not as bad here 'cause we're protected by the cliffs, but it's still really bad."

"Did you go out and check?"

"About twenty minutes before you woke up." Skara nodded, She shivered involuntarily at the memory. "Still thunder and lightning too."

Willow just nodded in her understanding.

There was another brief silence.

"...So," Willow drawled out, "You know how to cook?"

Skara raised an eyebrow as she threw a slice of goremato into the soup.

"No offense, but I thought someone like you has abomibutlers or servants for that sort of thing. At least using magic for it."

"Well... You're not exactly the only one with parents who love to teach you how to do things without Magic." She began to stir the pot, smirking, as if reminiscing about simpler times. "Yeah, most days we had servants make us a nice little meal. But, growing up, we gave them the weekends off. My parents, they met in a Cooking Club at Hexside, and-"

"Wait, really?"

"Yeah. Anyway, they met in the Cooking Club back in Hexside, and they'd often try to test their chefs true skill by having them cook without magic. One day, my parents faced off against each other, seeing who could make the best Slitherbeast roast. Dad blew mom out of the water, he says, but mom always says she was this close." She took a pinch of salt, threw it into the cauldron, then kept her fingers together. "Anyway, they were rivals for a bit, then they became friends, then one thing led to another, and after a few years, boom ! They got married, and had me, so happily ever after's all around."

Willow raised an eyebrow. "Huh..."

"Well, they really wanted me to like cooking too. So they'd always have me help them out. Didn't do a whole lot, 'cause of the whole... Being a kid thing, but I got to lick the spoon whenever we made frostings for desserts so I did my part."

Something about the way Skara expressed that, with an almost childlike smirk and a bright twinkle at the memory made Willow chuckle. "Huh. That's… That's actually surprisingly sweet."

"I mean, with a kid as sweet as me, how could it not be." Skara beamed. She had meant it as a joke, clearly.

But something about how Skara said it… Something about her calling herself 'sweet' after…

Willow shook her head. "Yeah." She mumbled, looking away.

Skara stopped smiling, taking the hint. She looked down, turning all her attention to her cooking.

The awkward silence returned.

After a while, Skara checked the soup, using a spare ladle. "Hmm… not my finest work, I'll admit… But I think it'll work."

She went back into the kitchen, and after routing around the cupboards for a short while, returned with two wooden bowls, both with the same intricate patterns that were spread throughout the cabin, and two smooth, wooden spoons. She filled up one, stuck the spoon in it, and handed them to Willow.

"Here."

Willow paused for just a moment, then took hold of the bowl with both her hands, placing it on her lap. She took a look at it, and to her surprise, it actually looked and smelt good. If she hadn't said earlier, Willow might have guessed that Skara's parents were part of a Cooking Coven as opposed to a club. She took a small sip from the bowl.

It… Was as good as it looked, actually.

"...Thank you.".

Skara nodded.

The Bard filled up her own bowl, and took a seat on the chair opposite Willow. She began to eat her own soup, quietly.

"...I guess I should thank you again." Willow said after a few moments of silence. When Skara looked at her, she explained, "For finding this place, and for carrying me here. I… Don't want to think about what would have happened to us if..."

For a moment, Skara just stared at Willow. Then, she sighed. "...We'll... We'll call it even. You… Did come and help me after I got caught by the Spider-Yeti, after all."

For reasons I still cannot fathom.

"You don't need to thank me for that, you know." Willow offered, along with a small smile. She was speaking softly and gently again, in that way Skara had hated a week before, and now… Now…

"...Well then, you don't need to thank me for doing this." Skara responded, before filling up her spoon again. :We're both just… doing our best in this crazy little life. Seriously. Don't mention it."

To that, Willow nodded. She glanced towards the window. "...Do you think the snow will stop soon?"

"I doubt it." Skara said, her voice slightly heavy. "When a storm this bad starts up on the Knee, it can take a while before it settles. I… I have a feeling we're going to be stuck here for a while."

"How long is a while?"

"...Tomorrow morning." Skara admitted, her voice even heavier. She could hear Willow exhale at that too. "At the least , if we're lucky. If we're not, we could be here for days."

Stuck in some cabin with Skara for days?

"...Still, it's not all bad." Skara eventually offered. She glanced towards the window herself now. "The blizzard'll keep the Spider-Yeti's away from us. They're good at tracking prey, but they still need to wait out blizzards like this."

Tilting her head slightly, Willow turned back to look at Skara. "You… Seem to know a lot about Spider-Yeti's and the Knee." A pause. "I mean, I'm not complaining or anything, you probably saved our lives, but - "

"Ves taught me."

Immediately, Willow shut her mouth.

...But Skara kept talking.

"He… He liked the creatures that live around here." She carried on. "He thought that they were interesting. Slitherbeast's, Spider-Yeti's, Arcticdacty, all kinda of stuff. Sometimes he'd tell me about them, and how they were adapted to survive on the Knee and what kinds of issues they had to face and I… Guess I just remembered some stuff he told me before..." She trailed off.

"...I didn't mean to remind you of what happened." Willow said once Skara fell silent. "I'm sorry."

"...It's alright." Skara sighed. "You… Didn't know."

Another pause.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"...No." Skara shook her head. Her voice was shaken, but… More level than the other times it had come up. "Not… Not now."

Quietly, Willow dropped the subject, but she couldn't help but take note of Skara's choice of words.

They weren't 'No I don't. '

They were ' Not now'.

Not Now.

Maybe… Maybe someday, though.


They both ate their meals in relative silence. Once they were done, Skara collected the utensils, and returned them to the kitchen. She also made sure to put a lid on the cauldron, to keep it from spoiling in case they decided they were hungry later.

After all, they didn't know how long they were going to be here for.

As the hours passed, they both lounged around, killing time, with little else to do. Willow remained in the lounge, trying to recover her strength, helping herself to another bowl of soup - It helped her to replenish her energy, and gave strength to her muscles. Plus, honestly? It was a very tasty soup.

For her part, Skara went from room to room again, looking to see if there was something that she had missed - Mobile Crows, a crystal ball, even a scroll, anything that they could use to let someone know where they were. But there was nothing.

There really was no sign of the blizzard slowing down, either. A part of Skara hoped she'd been wrong, but the sky began to turn dark, and the snow showed no signs of slowing down.

Not to mention, even if the blizzard had let up… They were in no position to travel.

After a while, she finally spoke to Willow.

"We should probably figure out what we're going to do."

Willow looked at her for a moment, before registering what was being suggested. "Ah." She sat up straight, and nodded. "…Yeah. We probably should."

Skara sat down opposite Willow again, and leaned forward in her seat. "I think we're going to have to stay here tonight." She leaned back, as she explained her reasoning. "It looks like I was right - The storm isn't gonna let up soon - "

Almost as if to punctuate her point, the sounds of thunder echoed throughout the chasm and into the cabin.

"…And even if it was, I still can't feel any Magical energy in me. Do you?"

"No." Willow confirmed. She attempted to draw a Magic circle in the air, but while the light formed, and so did the circle, it crumbled the second the circle itself formed, like it was dust. "I can't even perform minor spells."

"Me either." Skara nodded. "…Which means I can't get my hands on my Scroll, so even if there was a connection up here - And I seriously doubt there is - I can't get it, so we don't have a way to contact anyone else to tell them where we are. And even if that wasn't an issue, travelling across the Knee without Magic is… Not a good idea. Some of the monsters here are… Not pleasant."

Again, Willow agreed. "I… Don't wanna run into any more Spider-Yeti's, either."

Skara shivered.

"Okay." Willow said, scratching at her cheek lightly. "So, we're staying here for the night, at least until we get our Magic back. Then we need to wait until the blizzard dies down, and if we can't get in touch with anyone else, we try to make our way back to Bonesborough on foot?"

"That's… Basically what I was thinking." Skara nodded. "The only issue is, I don't know how to figure out which way that is."

"The sun rises in the south and sets in the north." Willow told her, sounding like she was reciting something she had been taught - Probably by her Dads. "And Bonesborough is north of the Knee. If we just go opposite to the sun rising, or with it when it's setting, we'll be able to figure out which way Bonesborough is fairly easily."

"You're sure about that?"

"A hundred percent."

A slight pause followed. Then Skara nodded. "Okay. Okay, that's the plan then?"

"It sounds good to me."

"Okay." Skara nodded again, this time, more confidently. "That's the plan then."

It was the only real choice, Willow knew. It wasn't like they had a whole lot of other options. But she had to admit - She felt better knowing that the two of them officially had a plan.

Now all they had to do was wait until they could put it into action.


To say that today had been… Eventful, Willow decided, was probably the biggest understatement of her life. And would probably remain the biggest understatement of her life for the foreseeable future.

At least, she hoped it would.

She looked at her reflection in the bedroom window, sitting on its ledge. The clothes Skara had dug out of the cabin's wardrobes for her were a little too big, and looked odd on Willow, even though they were different shades of plain green. Yet at the same time, they only complimented her expression - She looked as exhausted as she felt, and she felt like she was about to pass out at any moment. In fact, given less bizarre circumstances, she probably would have, but for right now at least, she was still trying to properly understand what exactly had happened today, because when she actually sat down and thought about it, she only then really realized exactly just how crazy a day it had been.

In less than twenty-four hours, she had been dragged to the Knee by her teachers without any explanation, paired up with someone she barely even knew or liked, been made to trek through the cold, unforgiving snow of the mountains, rescued said partner from being eaten alive by giant winter bugs, almost suffered that same fate when she lost her magic, and to wrap it all up, had been essentially carried in the middle of a thundersnow blizzard to some remote, unknown, and apparently forgotten cabin in the middle of a giant, wintery chasm, where they were going to have to stay for, if they were lucky, tonight, and if they weren't, the next few days.

And there was only one thing that all of these events had in common. Just one thing that tied all of this together.

Skara.

A girl who used to bully her. Who was still a part of the gang that had tormented her for years. Who, several weeks ago, she'd caught crying over her breakup. Who she tried to help, and failed to. The person that Oracle spirits had decided she would 'grow' the most from. And now, who had just saved her life from a Spider-Yeti and a blizzard.

One of the last people that Willow would have wanted to be partnered with for an event like this, or be stuck in this exact situation with. And yet, here they were.

The day had been... Odd, to say the least.

There were certainly… Less interesting directions their relationship could have gone, Willow supposed. Although to be perfectly honest, she wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not.

To be perfectly honest, there were a lot of things that she wasn't sure about when it came to Skara these days.

She sighed, watching the storm raging outside. Not to check to see if it was still going, but just to watch it for the sake of nothing better to do. Now that it had calmed, if only just a bit, and she wasn't in it herself, it actually was kind of... Nice to watch. The harsh winds and occasional streak of lightning across the sky were as dangerous as any other Boiling Isles phenomenon - But now that she wasn't at risk in it, it looked almost… Picturesque. Snow fell down from up top, creating a flurry of white against the greys of the walls of the chasm, and dark clouds occasionally flashed with brilliant whites and yellows, and the lightning almost created patterns within them.

It was certainly more beautiful than any kind of Boiling Rain or Gorenado that Willow had ever seen.

Trying to make sense of everything that had happened over the last couple of weeks felt like a monumental task, but Willow tried anyway. If, again, only because she didn't have anything better to do.

When she had first seen Skara crying, she knew that she could have just left her to herself, and that it wouldn't have been undeserved, but her conscience wouldn't let her. In the moment, helping Skara had just been the right thing to do. And after that… No, even then, she had been able to see herself in the Bard. Or at least, what she was going through.

And after that, it had just been her acting on that. Her trying to help Skara because she wanted to be the person that she wished she had back when her and Amity's friendship deteriorated.

Skara wasn't Willow, though. She didn't react the way Willow had thought she would, or even wanted to help Willow had wanted back then.

But at the same time, the things that she said, and the way that she acted said something… Different. There was how she talked about Hexside, and her philosophy that Willow couldn't really comprehend, and the way that she talked about her friends just leaving her to her devices when it was clear she was upset. Her mind drifted back to the Vehemence Witch Trap. The way that she talked…

'I should be able to handle this by myself, should be able to just get over this stupid breakup but…But I can't. I can't, okay?!'

'I'm supposed to be tough, supposed to be able to handle myself, supposed to not be broken up by stupid things like this but - But I can't! I'm on the Grudgby team, I'm one of the top Bards in my class! I hang out with Boscha for Titan's sake! You don't get to show any weakness around them - You don't get to! I should be able to handle this! And!... And it sucks, because…'

'You've been the only person who seems to genuinely care about it. Amelia, Cat, even Bo, they've asked, but you're the only one who just keeps making sure, asking me if I need anything…'

It was like she wanted help - Like she knew she needed help - But didn't know how to accept it. Like she didn't even realize it was an option to accept it. Like it was just…. Something that didn't occur to her.

Like she didn't even realize other people could offer it.

At Hexside though, Skara was popular. She had friends. Heck, Willow was all but certain that Skara seemed to know at least a few people in just about every class at the school. Until the last few weeks, she'd barely ever seen Skara on her own. And none of those people had noticed? None of them had offered to help, or be a shoulder to cry on?

That had been what Skara had said during the Witch Trap incident.

Willow… Didn't know what to make of Skara. That was the honest answer. She wanted to help Skara because of what she saw in herself, but she didn't know how to.

It was this sort of contemplation that made sleep impossible right now.

After a few more minutes of watching the storm outside and trying to make sense of everything, the door creaked open, and Willow turned her head to see Skara enter the room.

The Bard had dug around inside some of the boxes of the smaller rooms, and from them had found something that fit her, even if it was still roughly a size too big for her. A sleeveless vest and some shorts that went down to her knees, both plain white and black respectively. Her hair was wrapped under a towel from the shower she'd just taken.

"Haaaah..." She let out a long exhale. Her expression was, probably for the first time in weeks, relaxed. "Oh, I needed that. I can actually feel my fingers again." Then, looking at Willow, "Uh, outside of your fire downstairs, I mean."

Willow simply gave a half smile. "Nah. I gotcha. I'm still surprised this place even has warm running water."

"I'm amazed that this place even has running water." Skara added on, her hands rubbing the towel against her hair to try to get all the water out. "I would have taken a cold shower at this point. I wouldn't have been picky after getting covered in webbing, venom, and whatever else was in that cave."

"Agreed." Willow said, simply. After everything, actually getting to bathe felt like a cleansing of her spirit as well as her body. She'd never felt cleaner.

It was an extremely simple feeling, but after everything that had happened today, that simple feeling of cleanliness made everything feel that much better.

"I dunno what was in the shampoo I found, but.."

Giving the towel on her head a tight squeeze before dropping it to the floor, Skara's silver hair hung down, cascading down in one large poof. Willow realized, as she watched Skara begin to wring out what little remaining water there was onto the towel, that it was the first time since she'd met Skara that the Plant Witch had seen her hair down. And it was almost already completely dry.

"...It helps dry out hair faster too." That was something Willow had noticed from her own shower as well. There was just a bit of water left in Skara's hair, and what there was seemed to almost just slide right off, taking whatever debris was in the hair along with it. "And it seems to get pretty much all the dirt out too, thank the Titan. I don't even wanna think about what the heck was stuck in my hair after being trapped in that cocoon…"

The chatter was extraordinarily simple and almost pointless - But it was a sign that Skara was feeling better, at least a little bit. One thing Willow had learned about Skara over the last couple of weeks was that when she was upset, she didn't talk much, and was usually snappy or blunt with her words. The fact she was just chattering about a shower and her hair of all things was a sign that for now at least, she wasn't hung up on anything that had happened, or upset about something. She was more like the Skara that one would normally see in the corridors at Hexside.

It was… Actually sort of nice to see her like this, after the last couple of weeks.

Willow leaned her head back against the wall, and offered her a small smile. "I'm… Glad you're feeling a bit better, Skara."

For a moment, Skara just looked at Willow. Then, she nodded, and gave her a little smile in return, and tried to squeeze out what little water was still in her hair.

Once that was finished, she kicked the towel towards the corner of the room and let out another, relaxed sigh. "I don't know about you, but I'm completely exhausted."

A single laugh escaped Willow. "I don't think I've ever been more tired in my life."

"Says you." Skara let out a single laugh of her own. "I'm the one who got dragged out of bed at the crack of dawn for Grudgby practice, then dragged up the Knee, and then had to carry you in the middle of a blizzard. And fleeing a Spider-Yeti in a blizzard takes a lot out of you. Y'know, shockingly."

This time, it was just a snicker at Skara's sarcasm, but Willow was amused all the same. She nodded, turned in her seat, and hopped out of the window ledge. Okay then. So, time for bed?"

"Well, sure. But, uh…" Skara blinked a couple of times. "Have er, have you not checked all the rooms in the cabin?"

"Not… All of them. Why?"

"Er… When I looked around, this was the only bedroom..."

She didn't clarify the next point, but Willow heard it loud and clear: Which means there's only one bed for us to take.

"...Oh." Willow looked to the bed. She wasn't any sort of mattress expert, but it looked to be roughly about the same size as the mattress her dad's slept on, so it could fit both of them if they wanted to take it, probably with room to spare.

But given Skara's trailing off, that idea didn't seem to sit well with her. And there were bound to be a variety of reasons for that.

Right now though, the main one she was concerned with was making sure that this side of Skara - The side that was happy to talk about basically nothing, the side that had been hidden away because of the breakup, the side that Willow had wanted to help - didn't retreat back inside because of discomfort.

"Well, if you wanted to take it, then I can just take the couch downstairs and-"

"Nah." Skara said, suddenly. She looked at the mattress, and then back to Willow. "Y'know what, nah. Just throw me a blanket and pillow, and we'll go top-to-toe. It'll be fine."

Willow looked up, blinking. That had... Not been the reaction she had expected. "You're... Sure?"

"The couch downstairs isn't exactly the most comfortable thing in the world, and I think we could both use a good night's sleep. I'm fine with it if you are." She offered a small smile. "You literally saved my life earlier today. The least I can do is handle a little awkwardness so we can actually get some rest."

"...Well, okay then, if that's how you want it."

Skara nodded, before taking the top blanket, a heavy silver comforter, and one of the multitude of pillows from atop the bed. "Works for me." She dropped the pillow at the foot-end of the mattress, wrapped the blanket around herself tightly, and flopped her head onto the pillow.

Wrapped up like that, Skara almost looked like… Well, someone who had been caught in a spider's web, and was wrapped up in a cocoon, ironically enough. Willow couldn't help but chuckle to herself. Quietly, of course..

"Uhm, hey" Skara let out. The tone caught Willow off guard. It sounded… Embarrassed, almost. "So, I was wondering… I kinda get a little, you know, freaked out, sleeping in unfamiliar places, and after everything that happened with the Spider-Yeti… Do you mind if we keep the light on? Or just dim it only a little? I… Know it'll burn up whatever Magical energy is left in this place, but…"

The idea that Skara needed a nightlight was… Surprising, on its own, mostly because of their history. To Willow, it just didn't seem very… Skara-y, she supposed. Maybe, though, it wasn't as much of a surprise as Willow thought, when she realized that she herself was also somewhat freaked out.

Actually, now that she thought about it, maybe a nightlight wasn't a bad idea.

"Sure, but, I have a better idea. Is there any paper in this room?"

"Pretty sure I saw a bit of everything in the storage units under the bed."

Kneeling down and pulling the units out, Willow rummaged around for a couple of minutes until she found something paper-y - Maybe an old clothing tag or something, she wasn't totally sure - and a pencil. She'd seen Luz make light glyphs dozens of times now, she remembered what they looked like.

One quick drawing and a tap later, the glyph crumpled up and turned into a ball of small, dim light, that hovered in the air, slowly floating up to the ceiling, and emitting a faint glow throughout the room.

The Plant Witch let herself feel a small twinge of pride. It wasn't like one of Luz's orbs. It was smaller, fainter. Yet somehow, it was still captivating, like a star in the night sky. Exactly what she had been going for.

Not bad for her first ever glyph spell.

"...Thank you." Skara muttered, her head having half-way sunken into her blanket cocoon.

"Don't worry about it." Willow said, trying to reassure her. "To be honest I… Am kind of glad you asked. I dunno if I'd sleep any better here without a light."

She flipped the main light off, got herself into bed, and pulled her blanket up to her neck, and laid flat on her back. It was slightly awkward, knowing that she was going to be sleeping next to Skara, but, well… After everything that had happened today, a little awkwardness was something that she could handle.

Plus, she was too tired to dwell on it too much.

"Well… Goodnight." She said through a yawn, turning away from the light.

"Yeah." Skara replied, almost in a whisper. "Goodnight."

Willow closed her eyes, attempting to find any sort of sleep.

And unfortunately, finding none.


There was no getting comfortable. It wouldn't matter if it was on the downstairs couch, on the wooden floor, or on this mattress. Skara could not make herself comfortable.

She tossed and turned in her blanket cocoon for what felt like hours, trying and failing to sleep. She was exhausted, physically, mentally, and emotionally - She should have been able to fall asleep the second her head hit the pillow. She was so tired, she would give practically anything to be able to just get some sleep, but she just… Couldn't .

It wasn't the light, she could easily turn away from it. It wasn't the memories of the Spider-Yeti's, unpleasant as those were. The problem wasn't even the location, unsettling as it was.

It was something else, something much more personal.

Her mind was what was keeping her awake now.

She tried not to think about it, not to say anything about it, just like she had throughout the entire day now, but a question rolled in her mind, one that she needed an answer to, but just couldn't get. One that frustrated her, hurt her, that-

"Hey."

Skara stopped, then turned up to see Willow, now sitting up and looking over to her. The pair of them made eye contact.

"...Hey." Skara repeated.

Willow looked up for a moment at the light, like she expected it to greet her as well as well. In reality, she was thinking, trying to figure out how to best phrase what she was going to say. "You've been tossing yourself around like that since, well, you tried going to sleep."

Skara bit her lip. "Yeah."

"It… Kinda makes it hard for me to fall asleep too."

"...Sorry."

"And… I'm guessing that it's not much fun for you either."

"...Nope."

"That… Sucks…"

Neither of them said anything for a moment, but Skara knew exactly what Willow wanted to ask. They both just sat there in an awkward silence for a short while, neither of them even moving, waiting for the other to make the first move.

"...No." Skara finally said with a sigh. "No, I'm not okay."

"...Yeah… Yeah, I figured." Willow bit her lip. "I er, I wasn't sure if I should ask, or..."

It wasn't like Skara could blame her for not asking. Last time she had asked, Skara had all but exploded at her, and nearly gotten them both eaten by a giant emotion and also Witch-eating plant. Not that there were any of those on the Knee. She hoped , anyway.

Still, she knew where Willow's hesitancy came from. In a weird way, she was almost grateful for it. At least it showed that Willow recognized the impact that it had on Skara, even when it was difficult to explain why.

"Do… Do you want to talk about it?"

"...Not really." Skara admitted. Her head flopped backwards onto her pillow, and she stared up at the roof. "...But I am… So tired, and… I don't know if I'm ever gonna be able to get to sleep if I don't talk about it."

There was no follow up question by Willow. Instead, she just sat, and waited. She would let Skara talk at her own pace, about whatever it was that she wanted to talk about.

A few minutes of silence followed.

Then finally, Skara sat up.

"...Why did you save me?"

That… Hadn't been a question Willow had expected to hear. She just looked at Skara, like she had just asked if she could bring a niece-eating queen queen cobra to her niece's birthday party.

Was it… Not obvious?

"Uh…" Willow actually struggled to answer for a couple of seconds with how caught off guard she had been. "Be… Because you were in trouble, and-"

"But you didn't think to look for anyone else." Skara insisted. "You didn't find other classmates, or ran back to the boat. You just… You just ran after me on your own." She shook her head. "You just… You didn't even think. You just… Did it."

"I… Well, I guess that's a bit of Luz rubbing off on me." Willow said, nervously chuckling. She wasn't really sure what else to do.

"But…" Skara's eye drifted away from Willow, and more towards the floor. "...But after everything I did… Everything I've done. After how I treated you…" Skara shook her head. "You wanted to help. And… And I treated you like a threat, like a nuisance, and I… I…"

A pause.

"...It wasn't like the Witch Trap. You didn't have to help me. You could have just left me to get eaten, and… And I don't think anyone could blame you for it."

Another pause.

"...I don't think I could have blamed you for it..."

A third pause.

"...But you didn't. You came after me and… Now we're here." Her eyes slowly started to look back towards Willow. "...You've gone further for me than I think any one of my friends has and…" Her eyes drifted away again. Looking at Willow was hard.

"...You… Never did say if you actually wanted me to stay away from you." Willow pointed out, carefully. "I... I assumed it, but I wasn't sure…."

Another pause. This one was the longest yet.

"...I… I didn't. I didn't want you to stay away…"

Skara could feel herself begin to verge into some deeper, less emotionally comfortable places for herself. But, the genie was out of the bottle, and like a real genie it clearly wouldn't leave her alone until Skara let everything out and set it on fire.

"I just…"

…Screw it .

"...I didn't like being reminded about it, okay?" Skara admitted. "Of the breakup. Of Ves. I thought if I could just power through it, be my own witch, and move on by myself, that I could just pretend that it didn't happen." She sighed. "I just wanted to power through it…" "

"...You… You said that you couldn't do that, though." Willow pointed out, though she was tepid with her words and her tone. "When we fought the Witch Trap, you… Said that you couldn't."

Skara nodded. "...Yeah. I know." And then, she sighed again. "...So I guess I'm just screwed no matter what I do."

There… Wasn't an easy way out of this. There was no formula that she could follow that would make everything alright. She couldn't pretend that she was okay. She couldn't just power through it. And talking about it didn't automatically make it feel better either, as she was discovering now.

This was just something that she was going to have to ride out, for however long it took.

Her hands grabbed onto her blanket, and held onto it tightly.

"And you… You kept asking. It was hard enough, but every time I saw you, you asked me about it and… And I didn't want to be reminded about it."

"I… I'm sorry, I-"

"No, no, it - That's just it, Willow. It wasn't just you."

Skara unfurled her cocoon enough to sit up and look at the Plant Witch.

"Well, I mean, you did remind me of it, but… But you also made me feel…" She sighed. "This is gonna sound lame, but you made me feel weak." She shook her head. "Like I wasn't able to handle this on my own. Like I needed someone else to help me. And… I don't know what to do with that. No one else did that."

"...What about your friends?" Willow asked. "You… Said that I was the only one who kept checking on you, but didn't they at least… Try?"

"That's… Not how friends work."

Willow cocked her head at Skara in utter bewilderment. What was that even supposed to mean? "Skara…. What do you think friends do , exactly? You talk like you don't even really have any."

"They… They gossip. They play Grudgby. They do Moonlight Conjurings. They-"

"Help each other? Isn't that something they also do?"

Skara blinked. "Well, maybe. Sometimes, if it's serious enough. But you're supposed to be able to handle it yourself. You're supposed to be able to get through it on your own. When you're powerful, when you're at the top of the food chain, when you're the best… That's just how it's supposed to work." Her voice got quieter. "...That's how it's always worked. It's how it's worked since I was a Witchling..."

"...Is this the social hierarchy Boscha talks about?" Willow asked, but she already knew the answer. The way that Skara was talking wasn't the way that Skara talked about… Basically any other subject. This was Boscha talking.

The nod that followed was… Unceremonious.

Leaning back against the wall, Willow sighed. She… Well, it explained a couple of things, she supposed. Like why Skara defaulted to Boscha as the new head of their group of friends after Amity had left. Why she seemed utterly baffled by the concept of someone not taking every single advantage that was given to them to socially upstand someone. Why she… Why she seemed so confused as to why Willow wanted to help.

The Plant Witch… Didn't even want to imagine what living like this would be like. To have such a warped view of how friendships and basic relationships worked, even when she was as surrounded as she always seemed to be by other people… All she could imagine was a cold sense of isolation, even though everything around her was warm.

"...Well, does Bo believe that?" She asked. "She doesn't seem to be on the top, but you get along with her, don't you?"

"Bo can get along with anyone.." Skara muttered. "Besides, she's… Different. She's… temporary." Her voice was extremely heavy. " Boscha, Cat, Amelia, we're all gonna be powerful. That's what we were raised to be. So we gotta stick together. We don't have much of a choice. But Bo… She's just…" She trailed off.

It was a fact-of-the-matter way of speaking - It was obvious Skara didn't like it, but she believed it all the same. Like this was all inevitable. Like it was just the way of the world, and there wasn't a thing that she could do to stop it.

"...A friend." Willow said. "It sounds like you're talking about a real, honest friend who's more of one then Boscha and her gang ever have been."

"It… It isn't all that bad." Skara sighed. "Cat and Amelia are… Cool."

"And Boscha?"

"...She… She has her moments..." The way that she spoke was… Different.

It was hard to imagine Boscha 'having her moments', whatever that meant.

"...Skara…" Willow looked back at the window, trying to figure out what exactly to say. The situation was so… Messed up that figuring out exactly the right thing to say was difficult.

But this was the most that Skara had ever opened up to Willow. She was talking because she wanted to. She was explaining herself. She was... Reaching a hand out. Willing to listen. Willing to talk. And now that she had some idea of what was happening, of how Skara's mind was working, and the environment she'd ended up in that led her to thinking this way...

...There was no way that Willow couldn't try.

"...Look… Maybe friendship isn't just… about being powerful or the top or whatever. Maybe it's about caring for each other, about helping build each other up without any power dynamic stuff involved. Maybe it's about more than just social hierarchies and the like." She smiled, ever so lightly. "That's how it is with me and my friends, and… Maybe I don't have as many of them, but… I don't think that there's anything we wouldn't do for each other. And…"

A slight pause.

"...And… And I don't know if you need to hear this but… You're not a bad person. Not really."

A part of it was hard to say. No matter which way she looked at it, Skara had been there, helping to torment her for years. And those weren't pleasant memories. And somehow, Willow already knew that they were always going to be there, no matter what.

...But she believed what she was saying too. The much bigger part of her. She'd seen too much of Skara not to. Learned too much about her to believe that.

She could feel Skara's eyes turn to look at her. She continued, "I… I don't think you are. Even after everything, I… Maybe you just… I don't know. Maybe it's because of who you've spent time with, or how you grew up or… Something, but… I don't think you're a bad person. You risked your life to help Amelia the other week, and you risked your life again to help get me here. You… You aren't a bad person, Skara. And…"

Her fingers dug into the blanket, just a little more.

"...You said that you didn't understand why I came to save you after everything that's happened between us. Well… That's part of it too. I don't think that you're a bad person and… And you don't have to do those things, either. The way you talk about them, you say it like it's something you have to do… But… You don't."

There was a solid minute of silence.

For about half of it, Willow found herself regretting having said so much - That maybe she had said too much, and gone too far.

"...Maybe," Skara whispered, finally, alongside another small sigh. Another pause. "Maybe…"

Another pause.

Then she looked up, towards Willow.

And said something that had been a long, long time coming.

"...I'm sorry."

Willow blinked, and her ears twitched.

She almost rubbed the insides of her ears at the words, to make sure that she was actually hearing things properly. They sounded... Foreign. Almost alien to her. Not because of what was said, but because of who was saying it. She turned her head to look at the Bard.

"Skara…"

"I'm... Sorry about the Venus Fly Trap, I'm sorry about the Spider-Yeti's, I'm sorry about pushing you away, I'm sorry I never thanked you for trying to help me…"

The words spilled out so fast, Willow didn't even have time to correct her on the plant's name.

"I'm just… I'm sorry." Skara let out a long breath at her final words, still looking at Willow. "I… I know it doesn't fix any of it, but…"

For the first time in a while, Willow was truly, and completely, speechless.

Here was Skara, a self-centred girl she'd never seen apologize to anyone before, someone who had taken part in the torment she'd dealt with throughout her life at Hexside, someone who had only pushed back every single attempt that Willow had made to help, was now apologizing. To her.

Somehow, Willow hadn't even considered that as a possibility .

And she didn't sound like she was joking or trying to worm out of something. It seemed genuine, honest.

It felt… Surreal.

Then again, it wouldn't be the first time someone Willow had a bad history with apologized to her…

She thought back over the last couple of weeks. Thinking about how she and Skara had spoken to one another. What she had learned about the Bard. Everything that had happened between the two of them. And she thought of what to say.

"...Thank you, Skara."

It was honestly the best she could come up with.

"Please… Don't thank me." Skara shook her head. "After how I've treated you, it… Feels weird ."

"Well… You aren't entirely wrong about that." Willow said, a very small laugh following her.

Yet another pause followed, but it felt… Different. The atmosphere of the room had changed and everything felt… Different. A good different. Lighter, almost.

Looking at Skara, Willow noticed that she seemed… It was hard to say.

Less burdened?

"...Are, um… Are you feeling any better?" Willow asked.

For a moment, Skara didn't answer. "...I'm… Not sure. I… I don't know."

Understandable, Willow supposed. She wasn't even sure if the reality of the conversation had fully hit her, either.

"...I am sleepy now, though." Skara added, a yawn following her. "So, um…"

Willow almost laughed - But before she could, a sudden wave of exhaustion hit her all at once. The conversation had been… Heavy, she supposed. It made sense that it had tired the both of them out, even if they hadn't realized it at the time.

"...Yeah." Willow yawned as well. "Sleep sounds… Amazing, right now."

Both of them laid back down on the mattress - Skara, wrapping herself back up into her blanket cocoon, and Willow bringing her blanket back up around her neck. Whatever the long standing effects of this conversation might or might not be, they would figure it out tomorrow.

"...Night, Willow."

"...Night, Skara."

A few minutes later, and with a small, miniscule, but existing smile, Willow drifted off to sleep.


Gilbert and Rowan Park sat in silence, clutching the others' hands in comfort, as they waited for the teacher to get off of her mobile-crow.

They sat across from Principle Bump, who sat at his desk, straighter than usual. Gilbert knew this was straighter than usual because he'd seen Bump sit in that chair so often. All but once, when the two came, was because of the bullying Willow had endured. The only time it hadn't been was to sign the papers confirming Willow's change to the Plant track.

But this was the first time they were here without Willow. And that terrified both of them.

And, judging by how Skara's mother was playing with her long, silver hair, and how her father outright refused to sit down, but was pacing back and forth behind all of them, they weren't any better off.

Neither pair of parents knew the other - It was only today that they had learned that they were this 'Skara's' parents. Gilbert had heard more than enough stories from Willow about the kind of person this Skara was. His first instinct had been to yell at them, to demand some sort of justification or explanation as to why their daughter had taken part in such pointless, cruel tormenting of his child. And he knew Rowan felt the same, but he had grabbed his husband's hand and pulled him back before he had a chance to say anything to them.

Now wasn't the time. Their daughter was missing too.

"Hmmm. Okay. Alright. I'll let them know right away." Mr. Basilisk noted, releasing the crow and letting it fly out the window. His expression was grim. "Well, I have some good news… And some bad news as well…"

"I take it that they haven't found either of our children yet." Gilbert asked, already knowing the answer.

"Well…" The teacher's expression strained all the more. "That is the bad news, yes… But! The good news is that they haven't found any signs of either of them being eaten or frozen or potentially even-"

"Okay, that will be all." Principle Bump stated flatly, raising a hand. "No further words are necessary."

"Oh, further words are absolutely necessary!"

Skara's mother snapped. She slapped her hands onto Bump's desk and stood, an act of pure authority that commanded the entire room's attention.

" MY. DAUGHTER. IS. MISSING! IN ONE OF THE MOST DANGEROUS PLACES ON THE ENTIRE ISLES!" She grabbed him by his collar, desperately shaking the man, an act of parental rage that continued to demand everyone's attention. " AND NONE OF YOU CAN FIND HER? AT ALL?"

An almost screeching sound followed, and the louder the enraged parent got, the louder it seemed to get - Some kind of Bard Magic?

"Lulea, love." Her husband stated, placing a hand upon her shoulder. "You're doing the thing again. Please, take a nice, calming breath, dear."

It took a second, but Lulea stopped, let go of Bump, and raised her hands into the air, releasing a small stream of calming breaths. "In, out. In, out…"

"Better?"

"...Somewhat… I'm sorry Boras, I-"

"It's alright."

Turning back to Bump, he grabbed him roughly by his collar, flinging him around in his seat with far more force than his wife had had.

"NOW, YOU GET SOMEONE OUT THERE TO FIND MY DAUGHTER OR I SWEAR TO EMPEROR-FORSAKEN TITAN I'LL-"

"Everyone, calm yourselves!" Gilbert raised his hand, playing the peacekeeper. "I know we're under a great deal of stress, but attacking this man will get us nowhere!"

"No, but it sure feels good!"

Bump raised his arm and formed a quick spell circle. A dark purple hand arose from Boras's seat, grasping the enraged man, and dragging him back, keeping him locked in. The man didn't calm down, and Bump took a moment to straighten out his clothes. It was…

...Infuriatingly calmly done.

"If we're all done assaulting me, I assure you, all of you, that finding your children is my top priority. I can only afford to lose one student per semester, and with three gone already…" Bump shook his head, clicking his tongue atop the roof of his mouth. "That petting zoo trip was the worst decision of my career…"

"Great." Rowan said, his own temper flaring up at the borderline callous disregard the principle was showing. "Then search for them!"

"I'm afraid I can't at the current moment." Perhaps the first strain in his voice finally came through. "The blizzard makes it impossible to traverse the mountain safely outside of the areas already searched, and no magic can disperse it in time. I'm not going to risk more people getting lost while trying to find two students that we don't even know the location of!"

By the end of his sentence, he had been shouting. He then let out a small sigh.

"...If, in the morning, the storm seems to have settled on the Knee, or at the very least calmed down to a manageable level, you are more than welcome to join the search parties to find both of your children.."

"And we'll be there to help!"

Everyone in the office turned and stared at the door, confused at the much younger, much more optimistic voice coming behind it. There were a few awkward seconds where without even seeing them, Gilbert just knew that whoever was on the other side of the door was now kicking themselves for having made their presence painfully obvious.

Bump cleared his throat. "Miss Noceda, you and your friends can enter now, unless you prefer eavesdropping on my conversations."

There were a few seconds of no sound or movement, and then, the door slowly creeped open, and one human poked her head through the door. Alongside three other Witchlings.

"Miss Blight, Mister Porter, and-"

"We're sorry for eavesdropping, Principle Bump." Bo interrupted, speaking quickly. But Skara's in trouble, and so's Willow, and we couldn't just… just stand around and do nothing!" She rambled everything out, sounding almost as stressed about her friend's disappearance as the parents were.

Luz placed a hand on a stressed Bo's shoulder. "Look, Mister and Mister Park… Skara's parents. We can help! Eda would be perfectly willing to join, and King is a super good tracker, when you bribe him with enough belly rubs." She sighed. "Look, we care about Willow."

"And Skara."

"And her too."

"Willow's my best friend!" Gus declared. "She's stuck her neck out for me more times than I can count! I can't just sit here and not do anything!"

Behind him, Amity placed a hand on his shoulder, and nodded along.

"We've been through worse places than the Knee!" Luz carried on "And everything worked out without a hitch."

"Didn't you and Mr. Porter destroy the Detention Track? And you and Ms. Blight put the entirety of the Isles in danger with Grom? And then you unleashed Griffons onto the Illusion Track. And-"

"The point is, " Luz continued, "that we can handle it. So if you guys are going tomorrow, then-"

"Then you can help us in our search." Boras interrupted, calmer then he had been thirty seconds ago.

He said it almost with authority - The kind of authority that someone only used when they knew that everyone around them was already in favour of what was happening.

And indeed, not a single parent objected. And neither of the teachers did either.

Even Bump just sighed. "If I refused, you'd just sneak on the longboat anyway, so there really isn't a point in trying to stop you, is there?"

"...Huh." Luz just blinked. "I was expecting a bit more pushback… I had this whole speech planned out, some shadow puppets maybe…"

Gilbert chuckled. "That won't be necessary, dear." Lifting himself from his seat, Gilbert knelt before Luz, looking at her from eye level. "So, you must be Willow's friend Luz I've heard so much about, huh?"

"Yep, that's right."

"Well," Rowan stated, "It's an honour to meet you then." He picked himself up as well, walking to Luz as well and smiling. "Any friend of Willow's is family as far as we're concerned."

Luz smiled, then threw herself at Gilbert, her arms wrapping around him in a surprise hug. "Don't worry, Mr. Park. We're gonna find her."

Gilbert was taken aback for a moment, before hugging her back.

We will. I'm sure of it.

I hope...


QosmicQuartz - PHEW this was a big chapter, both in size and in impact. Before Desmond and I started this, we agreed generally on a 5000 words per chapter minimum, and each time we've broken 10,000 words, including this one. I dunno why we were ever worried. I really hope that you enjoyed this chapter, it's a big one and one that Desmond was crucial in conceptualizing, so, thanks to him!

DesmondKane - And at long last we got this finished! And at over THREE TIMES the word count we agreed on! Hope the length doesn't scare you all off.

We wanted to get it as perfect as possible for y'all, and we hope we succeeded. It was fun coming up with ideas for this one, especially the talk between Skara and Willow. We're walking a fine line here with the characters right now so we hope that when it all starts falling into place it feels as natural as possible.

And now, the Skarlow Song of the Chapter; Dandelions by Ruth B!